The marijuana industry as a whole has yet another reason to celebrate, as the Australian Parliament and Senate lawmakers have approved amendments to the Narcotic Drugs Act of 1967. The new legislation will oversee the licensing of manufacturing and distribution of marijuana. There will be two different categories of medical cannabis licenses accessible under the new bill. The first is the farming and manufacturing of cannabis into medicinal cannabis products. The second allows for the research of cannabis and its potential medicinal uses.
Lucy Haslam, who drove this campaign and lead the fight with the inception of her organization called United in Compassion, lost her son Daniel to terminal bowel cancer exactly one year ago. He was 20 years old. She argued and bravely admitted that, due to nausea and sickness caused by her son’s chemotherapy treatments, she used cannabis to control the side effects. “[Daniel] would really be at peace today,” Haslam stated after hearing the news. “He didn’t want to die…but it would give him peace to know this is going to help so many Australians. I think he’d be proud.” Australian Sen. Richard Di Natale addressed Parliament on Wednesday and brought up this emotional story. “It is incredibly fitting that today we are passing this bill which is one step towards making medicinal cannabis accessible to people like Dan.” See Sen. Natale’s full speech: http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/24/health/medical-marijuana-legal-australia-irpt/.
Australia’s Minister for Health, Sussan Ley, was quoted as saying “This is a historic day for Australia and the many advocates who have fought long and hard to challenge the stigma around medicinal cannabis products so genuine patients are no longer treated as criminals.” Ms. Ley went on to say that “This is the missing piece in a patient’s treatment journey, and [we] will now see seamless access to locally produced medicinal cannabis products from farm to pharmacy.”
They have yet to sort out the details. As with all new legislation, this will take some time. Supporters of the amendment remain hopeful that this will be a relatively quick and painless process. The first yield may planted as quickly as within a month or so.
Woody Ellis is a contributing writer for Quantum 9, Inc. You can follow Quantum 9, Inc. on Facebook or Twitter by visiting these addresses:
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